Toys

Many have argued that children's toys are more than what they seem: They have symbolic meaning and value and tell us a great deal about the larger society of which they are a part. While it is true that toys teach children cognitive and motor skills, they are also cultural products that aid children in the construction of their identities. They are an integral part of children's culture, contribute to the social and cultural landscape of childhood, and are one of the ways that children enter into a shared culture with their peers. Moreover, children come to understand their place in the world through the messages about gender, race, social class, and sexuality that are embedded in toys, which often reproduce unhealthy stereotypes.

Toys that parents select for children are significant sources of gender socialization. Research has found that adults gender stereotype toys for boys and girls of all ages but that toys geared toward infants and toddlers are stereotyped to a lesser extent. Despite this finding, children as young as 3 or 4 years old are given messages from their parents about appropriate toys for their gender. Several studies have shown that toys for girls often focus on being a mother and taking care of the house, and therefore they are given more dolls, children's furniture, and other household items to play with. Conversely, toys for boys revolve around action and adventure themes, and therefore more sporting equipment, tools, and vehicles are made available to them. This is illustrated in one particular study where a preschool boy chose to play with a tool set rather than a dish set, stating that his father would think it was “bad” to play with the dish set.

Researchers argue that adults often rate “girls' toys” as more gender stereotyped than “boys' toys,” which helps to explain why boys are discouraged from, and consequently avoid, playing with “feminine” toys. These findings can also be understood in the context of the larger definition of masculinity in society, where boys and men are held to a fairly narrow set of standards of acceptable masculine behavior. Conversely, girls are less frequently discouraged from [Page 840]playing with “masculine” toys, which can be understood as a reflection of a more flexible definition of femininity that allows for some cross-gender play. It is clear that parents' values influence the children's choices of toys and their gender play.

Despite these findings, parents often argue that their children prefer gender-typed toys, which is why they purchase them. While research shows that children as young as 1 year old express gender-typed toy preferences, some argue that this may be due to parental encouragement, rather than sheer desire, toward so-called gender-appropriate toys. Parents are influenced not only by their own perceptions of what are gender-appropriate toys for boys and girls but also by the pictures on the toy packaging, the gender of the model posing with the toy in toy catalogs, and the gender-specific department where the toy is shelved (i.e., major toy chains continue to segregate their toy stores by gender, shelving toys in either the boys' section or the girls' section).

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